Collector's Item
by Hakkari
Summary: He had helped to raze cities to the ground, had assisted in the deaths of near thousands, and what was he reduced to? A mount. Nothing more than a vanity item for an idiotic human mage. Oneshot. R&R.


He had once been a promising member of the black dragonflight. They said he was destined for greatness, that even the great Deathwing would be impressed by his talents. He had helped to raze cities to the ground, had assisted in the deaths of near _thousands_, and what was he reduced to?

A mount. Nothing more than some vanity item for some idiotic human mage. She had screeched when she had recieved him, unknowingly taking away his life and his ambitions. As soon as they had fastened the saddle on his back and the reigns on his maw, he _knew_ that his once-admirerers would be howling with laughter at his plight. It wasn't made any better by the fact that the saddle _hurt_ when they put it on, causing him to let out a low groan of pain. The humans had laughed at him, of course - black dragons were never any mortal's favorite, and to put one through such agony was like giving a child candy.

"Oh!" Her face had literally lit up when she saw him bound with leather reigns and leashes, led out by a particularly muscular male human. He grunted, holding the reigns back from her and eying her carefully.

"You sure about this, ma'am? He's one of th' black flight. They can't be counted on, really. Have ya tried assisting th' red flight at Wyrmrest? I hear that red drakes actually volunteer their services to those who gain their trust."

She had shaken her head, smiling brightly. "No, no, I'm well aware of the risks. You see, when we captured him in the Obsidian Sanctum, I was the one who won him. Me - of ten people! Of course I want him, no matter the risks!" The other human's eye twitched before he sighed, handing her the reigns without another word.

"So, what's your name, huh?" The drake blinked, not expecting that question. He had assumed that she would jump on his back, fly high into the sky, then he could drop her and fly back to the Obsidian Sanctum and make sure that the eggs were okay. And Sartharion, too, of course.

"Karinion." He didn't offer anymore information, staring silently at the human. She blinked, then grinned wider.

"That's a nice name, I suppose. I'll call you 'Rini', okay?" Before he could protest the awful nickname, she continued, "My name is Ilesa. I bet you're wondering why you're here, right?"

"I'm not."

She ignored him. "Oh, well, it's a good story. You see, we captured you while we were in the Obsidian Sanctum. But before we could figure out what to do with you, the bigger black dragon came and attacked us!" This got Karinion's attention.

"Sartharion?" She waved her hand at him, annoyed at his interruption.

"Yeah, yeah, him. Anyway, we killed him, right? And he had all this _stuff_ behind him! So it was lucky that one of the people who came with us had dice on him, because we rolled them for the things he dropped. And then we decided, hey, we could do the same thing with that black drake we caught back there!" His expression must have looked horrified, because Ilesa was quick to comfort him, "Oh, don't worry. We didn't mortally wound you or anything; our leader wouldn't let us. He said that you'd be worth a lot more alive than dead. And boy was he right!"

That hadn't been what he had been scared of, but she continued without asking him to clarify his fears. "So yeah, I won you, right? And then we left with you, and that's how you ended up here. I suppose you're probably missing your home, right? Well, not to worry, there's nothing left to miss about it! We killed basically every living thing in there and then smashed the eggs that the Sartha-guy was guarding. I guess if you liked lava _that much_ then you might miss it. But who likes lava, right?" She shrugged, glancing at him as he began to growl. "You know you don't have fire anymore, right? They cut out whatever makes you spit fire. It was becoming a safety hazard on some drakes, apparently."

"You _killed_ Sartharion?" She beamed at him, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yep!"

"Vesperon, Shadron, _and _Tenebron?" There was no way mere mortals could knock out three of the most powerful twilight drakes alive on top of the Onyx Guardian. It was just impossible-

"Oh, you bet! That was the hard part, because we killed them _while_ we were fighting the big one. Sartha-something. I can't remember; he kept screaming his name so many times that I just sort of blocked it out. Not that it matters; he's dead now." Fear flickered in his eyes for the first time; what was _wrong_ with this mortal? She had to be a red dragon in disguise... or something. Sartharion had killed thousands of mortals in his long lifetime, and suddenly _ten_ of them could take him - plus three powerful drakes - down without a single one of them dying?

It made no sense. None of it made _any sense_. He was barely aware when she climbed onto his back, jabbing mithril spurs into his sides and dangling a carrot over his nose as if he was nothing more than a common pony. "Alright, come on, Kiri! We have to get to Icecrown _stat_! I hear that the Argent Crusade is setting up a tournament with _jousting_ and all sorts of fun stuff!"

Without another word, he took off, trying desperately to ignore the jabs that slid under his scales onto soft flesh and the carrot annoyingly sitting in his line of sight. He had no hope of escape; even if he did, he had no fire. The black dragonflight was splintering, anyway. Perhaps he was safer in the hands of a chaotic human. It wasn't like Deathwing was going to return and reunite their flight, after all. He snorted at the thought. It was more likely that orcs would have flying motorcycles, gnomes would grow taller than the clouds, and dwarves would punch dragons in the face.

And that would _never_ happen.

**A/N: I never understood why the dragon mounts subjected themselves to players like they do. I mean, I guess I could kind of understand the bronze and red because they're friendly, but why the black and twilight? Never made any sense to me.**

**This spawned from a conversation a friend and I had in game. I regret nothing!**


End file.
